The long strange trip of a Singaporean Cold-War-era assault rifle into the hands of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and what it reveals about the unintended consequences of the global trade in small arms and ammunition. [slnyt]
posted by killdevil on Jan 26, 2012 - 9 comments

How two American kids became big-time weapons traders - "Working with nothing but an Internet connection, a couple of cellphones and a steady supply of weed, the two friends — one with a few college credits, the other a high school dropout — had beaten out Fortune 500 giants like General Dynamics to score the huge arms contract. With a single deal, two stoners from Miami Beach had turned themselves into the least likely merchants of death in history." (via; previously on arms contractors)
posted by kliuless on Mar 21, 2011 - 69 comments

Arms dealers affiliated with 22 companies, including one with a former Joint Chief of Staff on its board of directors, have been indicted for soliciting kickbacks on multimillion dollar deals to supply munitions to representatives of a fictitious African government. [more inside]
posted by minimii on Jan 21, 2010 - 41 comments

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty". Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year. [more inside]
posted by Jakey on Nov 15, 2009 - 133 comments

Gregg Valentino's Claim to fame is having the biggest arms in the world, and who are we to argue with him? (Link via zFilter.)
posted by h0ney on Jul 30, 2002 - 30 comments

Sarah Brady, champion of gun control, buys a gun for her son. The Secret Service, who you can bet are armed, violate federal and state law to keep legally carried arms away from Dick Cheney in Utah. Kofi Annan gets in trouble for machine-pistol carrying guards shortly after the UN's international Small Arms Destruction Day. Diane Feinstein admits the need to feel armed. Rosie O'Donnell wants people to tote guns to protect her son. One of Ted Kennedy's guards brought a machine pistol into the Capitol. I'm not meaning to make a Memepool type linkfest, but these things are extremely under reported, and I'm interested in what people think of the apparent hypocrisy to be found in the people who want to make you defenseless but feel above their rules themselves. Is this defensible? How?
posted by jammer on Mar 30, 2002 - 60 comments

"Civil War, Revolutionary War and Pirate cannons could not harm tanks, half tracks, armored cars or self-propelled guns." Army Men, my friends, Army Men.
posted by rodii on Feb 6, 2002 - 21 comments

"I’d keep guns off the streets if I could -- keep them off people, off cops, off everybody. They’re just built to kill people, and that’s no good. Sometimes I feel like turning people in -- like when there’s a shooting in front of my house. But something always stops me. I grew up in this place. I knew these people before they even started dealing with guns. Those are the people who watch my back when I need them. They’re like family -- I can’t turn them in." Jesus Gonzalez reports on the illegal handgun trade in Brooklyn, NY, as part of a Marketplace series on the underground economy.
posted by sudama on Nov 15, 2001 - 6 comments